Iran test-fired new missile, says Revolutionary Guards commander

Iran has test-fired a new missile, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said, according to the country’s Tasnim news agency.

“Our country is always the arena for testing a variety of defence and strategic systems and these are non-stop movements towards the growth of our deterrent power,” Major General Hossein Salami said on Saturday.

“And yesterday was one of the successful days for this nation,” he said, without providing more information about the missile.

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On Thursday, Iran displayed what it described as a domestically-built long-range, surface-to-air missile defence system.

Last year, US President Donald Trump pulled out of an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme and stepped up sanctions on Tehran in order to curb its development of ballistic missiles and its support for proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.

The two countries have been exchanging threats and warnings since then.

Iran shot down a US military surveillance drone in the Gulf with a surface-to-air missile in June, nearly resulting in a conflict with the United States.

The Islamic Republic says the drone was in its airspace, but Washington claims it was in international airspace.

Regional tensions escalated in May when the US and its allies – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – accused Iran of sabotaging tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, allegations Iran denies.

The United Kingdom‘s Ministry of Defence announced this month that Royal Navy vessels will work alongside the US Navy to escort vessels through the busy strait.

Britain has been giving UK-flagged vessels a naval escort since the IRGC seized a British oil tanker last month. The move followed the seizing of an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Gibraltar in July.

The British Royal Marines seized the ship in July on suspicion it was shipping oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions. Iran denies that the tanker was ever headed for Syria.